>> Then how do you explain the married fundamentalist ministers, like Ted Haggard, who have been involved in homosexual scandals in recent years?
Sin is everywhere. But, if one accepts the premise that heterosexual Christian men would typically marry a woman, and Christian men with homosexual tendencies would typically not marry at all ... a celibate priesthood is the logical hiding-place for flawed believers attempting to resist homosexual tendencies, but who do not want to relate to a woman.
Ted Haggard (a homosexual man married to a woman) strikes me as more of an anomaly than does an unmarried homosexual man. Celibacy is a disinvitation to men who are interested in women/ marriage ... and an open invitation to men who are interested in perpetually resisting sexual urges. This option is necessarily more attractive to people whose sexual urges are universally sinful (homosexuals) rather than those whose sexual urges are allowed a sin-free outlet (married heterosexuals).
Thus, celibacy invites homosexuals.
SnakeDoc
Also....generally when a Protestant Pastor or decon etc. is found out there is no question he is outed....he is discharged entirely from the ministry...and usually encouraged to seek professional help taking years. Not uncomman charges are pressed depending on the parties involved.
Gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson was once married and had children. His case was not unique by any means. Former conservative Republican Congressman Robert Bauman was married with kids before being caught in a gay bar.
I have had my differences with the church over the last few years, so I tend to stay out of these threads. However, your comments have been so ignorant and moronic that I felt the need to chime in. How many of these gay/celibate/pedophile priests do you know personally? I have met and been friends with literally hundreds in my lifetime and I was never molested, hit on or even made to feel uncomfortable. The priests I have known were men who sacrificed their lives to the service of their communities. Most were on call 24/7 to be with their parishoners in some of the worst moments of their lives. They live lives of sacrifice and service that leaves no time for a family of their own (which is the reason for the vow of celibacy in the first place). Their reard of late has been to be branded with a scarlet P due to the actions of a statistical few. You obviously know nothing more than what the NY Times or Boston Globe has written. The same publications that you would excoriate for conservatism are spot on when it comes to Catholic priests? Please. Your “everyone knows” and “common sense should tell you” style of arguments are exactly the same kind of logic used by the mob in charge of the WH and Congress today.